Raging Cynic

Another great poll by the punctual pundits of perpetual percentages (acting on behalf of TIME) report that President Clinton’s appearances on wife Hillary’s campaign trail are hurting Hillary’s presidential bid more than helping.

According to the random sampling of 1,000 voters, 19% said they were less likely to vote for Hillary due to President Clinton’s involvement compared to the 9% gain in support ( TIME, Feb 07, 2008).

Startingly, few in the Clinton camp seem to have anticipated that the first viable female candidate for President, who for months has been waving the sex card by compelling women to vote on chromosome more than issue and reason while appearing on predominantly female demographic talk shows anticipated people would be disheartened to see her leaning so much on her husband’s reputation than her own merit.

Can they really be surprised? Look at Bill. Eight years of President, major surgery, very active with charity fund raising putting everything aside to work tireless to get Hillary elected. I don’t follow the Clintons around with a handy cam and a notebook but from my point of view Bill’s working much harder than Hillary out there on the trail. Maybe it’s because he looks absolutely exhausted. Maybe because he’s on the news more than she is. But the fact remains that the image presented is that Bill is campaigning for President with more energy than in 1992 and he’s not even on the ballot.

The backlash of this campaign strategy and Obama’s strong support with female voters suggests a weak link in the Clinton campeign strategy: just as one can be a sailor and not understand oceanography, a woman who’s lived her life sheltered from Americans may not understand womans issues in America.

A gunman, spouting off about killing the mayor and, acording to his brother, disgruntled over traffic tickets impinging his constitutional rights, killed five people at a city council meeting last night.

Over parking tickets.

And his brother defends this nut job, saying,

“My brother went to war tonight with the government,” Gerald Thornton said in an interview with a local television station after the incident. “He decided that he could no longer verbally work it out.”

[ Article from NYTimes]

There was no war with the government. Your brother went from screw-loose crazy to dribbling oatmeal crazy, killed five innocent  people and was shot to death by the police. The only thing your sociopath brother did was prove that the Kirkwood police should take local crazies more seriously.

These were members of the community who took time out of of their lives, away from their families, to try and help their community. War with the government? These were neighbors!

Hate speech is not protected because of the risk it poses to other people and society as a whole. Hate speech against the government shouldn’t be either. The right to criticize the government is integra, don’t get me wrong. But lauding this gun-toting maniac’s actions threatens people and society and Gerald Thorton there should show more respect for those who died because his brother couldn’t handle a parking ticket.

It is nothing short of amazing the amount of hope an inspiration the American people are picking up from Obama’s campaign. People from all over this nation votes in droves last night to take part in primaries which will impact whether in November we’ll be voting for the first woman president or first non-white president. They braved cold, dark, snow, and even hurricanes to tell the Democratic Party either they’re happy with the way Washington has been working for the last few decades or that they’re ready for change. Based on the number of deligates Obama’s campeign picked up, it’s clear that his message of change is still gaining influence in the hearts of Americans across the country and across party lines.

More people have been turning out for this clection cycle than ever before. Not by thousands, not by hundreds of thousands. Millions. Pole turnout for the democrats across the country is up by millions over previous records.

California’s poles showed such a turn out that pole workers started asking people to use their sample ballots since they had ran out. That’s right, we were so eager to vote that we were running out of ballots.

There’s an energy in the air. Something sharp and nervous. Not just hope, but also fear of that hope will being lost, taken away. That’s why we have to keep pushing. It is my sincere hope that anyone who was touched by Barack Obama’s message of change enough to vote for him will also help contribute to his campaign. $5 to help get a president in the white house who won’t be pushing the agenda’s of corporate America. $5 to elect a president who inspires hope for America. Real hope. Unprecedented hope. $5 to elect a president who wasn’t born into wealth or an easy life and understands how American’s really live and what we have to struggle with.

Can you imagine what would happen to have a President who could inspire hope in people’s hearts? Not to downplay Clinton’s Presidency; it brought prosperity and comfort but not as much hope. Probably because things weren’t as bad as they are now. I think that’s why people react so strongly to President Clinton campaigning for Hillary; they see him and they remember when it was better. Republicans saw Bush Jr. and thought he could bring back some of what his father brought back for them maybe. It doesn’t work that way. No matter how much President Clinton supports his wife, she’s no Bill Clinton and nostalgia isn’t really the same thing as hope.

There is no surprise that a man who spent ten years teaching law at one of the most prestigious institutions of law in the world would be a fantastic speaker. But it’s one thing to speak well, and another to inspire hope. The hope that Sen. Obama inspires is no doubt one of the key reasons that his support base is as strong as it is. Real hope. Forward looking hope. Not we’ll do things like we used to, but we’ll do things better. He’s not only saying he’ll make the USA better, not only saying WE will make the us better. We have the chance to elect a president who is telling us we can do better and inspiring us forward toward that change.

How inspirational is he? His words were made into a song. He’s lyrically inspirational. We’re talking artist of hope inspirational.

There’s a fantastic article up on the New York Times’ site detailing McCain’s growing lead and the tight race between Hillary and Obama.

What I found particularly blood-boiling was reading Hillary’s degradation of Obama’s political record only because he was elected to one less term in the US Senate than she was.

“You know, I hear all these folks talking about who is and isn’t electable — and they said all the same things in New York,” she added, noting that voter support for her grew and deepened over time. “I trust the voters — frankly, that’s who matters.”

“One thing about me, I’ve already been through tough campaigns, and I think that says something about me,” she said. “My opponent hasn’t had to go through that baptism of fire    . And in a general election, you know what’s going to happen to our nominee. Let’s not kid ourselves.”

[ full article]

It’s getting past the “oh that’s an interesting side note stage” and entering “FINE! You were elected to the US Senate one time more than he was, let’s move on.” It’s becoming obnoxious. And it overlooks the fact that he was elected to the State Senate three times PLUS once to US Senate. So, really he’s been elected to senatorial positions TWICE as much as Hillary. That doesn’t even start to delve into the differing socio-economic disadvantages that Obama had to face for his elections.

Hillary should stop beating that horse because it’s LONG since dead and, you know what Hillary, that’s not even a horse. If she thinks that counting how many times someone’s been elected to US Senate is the yard stick of “electable” then I suppose Bill Clinton never should have ran and Hillary should step aside for McCain because Mr. Qualified over there was serving in the US Senate before Bush Sr. was President.

While Barack is off campaigning on the east coast after his Thursday debate with Hillary, his wife Michelle is actively holding the fort and inspiring California voters in his stead.

But tonight’s rally at San Jose State University was more than a fantastic show of energy and support for Barack’s presidential bid. Speaking to hundreds of Santa Clara County residents, Michelle Obama showed that her background has made her and her husband into people who not only know what hardships Americans face today, but understand them first hand. Her call to change is rooted in the belief and hope that change will be on the minds of Americans when her husband is in the Wight House working on the changes we need to get this country back on track.

I’m sure looking forward to having such an impassioned, articulate, thoughtful woman as our First Lady.